Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to find a better word. When you choose
Speaker 1: the right word, that word can do more heavy lifting
Speaker 1: than if you go with the first word you think of.
Speaker 1: This week, I am sharing some of my favorite writing tips.
Speaker 1: Even if you don't write for a living, you might
Speaker 1: write reports or emails or articles for industry publications. Certain
Speaker 1: strategies can help make your writing more compelling and clear.
Speaker 1: Writing first drafts is hard. We just need to get
Speaker 1: the ideas down. But once you have done that, you
Speaker 1: can go through and make the writing better. Earlier this week,
Speaker 1: we talked about cutting words. If you aim to cut
Speaker 1: ten to fifteen percent off your word count, you will
Speaker 1: need to weigh each word and sentence. Doing so will
Speaker 1: help you think through the best way to say what
Speaker 1: you need to say. Part of that is choosing words
Speaker 1: that do a lot of work. Rather than having someone
Speaker 1: run very quickly, you have them sprint or dash or race.
Speaker 1: These words are all a little different, but one is
Speaker 1: likely closer to the right word. Even if you don't
Speaker 1: save on your word count, you might get closer to
Speaker 1: what you're trying to say. It is different to sob
Speaker 1: than to cry, or to whimper, or to wail. It
Speaker 1: is different to linger versus lolligag. Of course, it is
Speaker 1: not always easy to come up with the right word
Speaker 1: off the top of your head. So if you find
Speaker 1: yourself stabbing around trying to come up with the right one,
Speaker 1: do this, look the word you did use up in
Speaker 1: the dictionary. No, not the thesaurus. A thesaurus lists lots
Speaker 1: of words with similar meanings, but does not always make
Speaker 1: clear which words have different connotations or mean slightly different things.
Speaker 1: I took a writing class in college where the professor
Speaker 1: John McPhee mentioned that he preferred to use the dictionary
Speaker 1: to find better words. That's because the dictionary is trying
Speaker 1: to help you find the precise meaning of something, so
Speaker 1: the various words suggested or mentioned are more likely to
Speaker 1: be close to the meaning you desire. It doesn't take
Speaker 1: long to do this, and you don't have to do
Speaker 1: it for every word. But whenever you see a word
Speaker 1: in your writing that feels tired or imprecise or cliched,
Speaker 1: find a better one. See if you can find one
Speaker 1: with a more exact meaning and the right connotation. If
Speaker 1: you can't think of one, look the word up in
Speaker 1: a dictionary and see what else gets suggested. Maybe you
Speaker 1: will find a better word there, or maybe not. One
Speaker 1: reason people sometimes resort to foreign language phrases is that
Speaker 1: English doesn't have an exact right word for everything. But
Speaker 1: if you are listening to this in English, well just
Speaker 1: know that English is a vast, varied and colorful language.
Speaker 1: A better word just might be out there. By taking
Speaker 1: the time to find it, you can make your writing
Speaker 1: more clear and more fun for the reader too. In
Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,
Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the
Speaker 1: number four then Breakfast Pod. You can also shoot me
Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com.
Speaker 1: That before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, should I look forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
Speaker 1: from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app. Apple podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.